Oh, Neglect...

Song Meaning

The lyrics open with a stark image of premature aging, "My hair was grey at 26," immediately contrasting with an internal "bloodlust." The speaker then directly confronts "neglect," painting a picture of relentless effort to please. There's a palpable sense of a life lived for an unseen, demanding force. A central tension emerges from the speaker's self-identification as a "pollyanna," an optimist, despite feeling "possessed" and "trapped." This forced cheerfulness seems to be a performance, a chosen "show" that masks deeper weariness. The line "now that I find myself young again, I've got too much hope, for what? I don't know" suggests a cyclical, almost futile, return to a state of vulnerability. The personification of "neglect" as a demanding master is particularly striking. The speaker describes their efforts to please this entity with industrial precision: "So metered and unswerving," like a "plasma cutter, a laser beam." Yet, this intense, focused energy is in service of being a "technicolor creature / Trapped in this lenticular scene," suggesting a vibrant but ultimately confined and artificial existence. The effectiveness lies in how these lyrics portray the exhausting, self-erasing nature of seeking validation from an absent or indifferent source. The speaker is "bankrupted by my own ideas," implying that their very identity and creative energy have been consumed by this unending performance. The repeated "sorcerer's apprentice" reinforces a cycle of servitude, where the effort to please only deepens the speaker's indentured state, ironically perpetuating the very "neglect" they strive to overcome.